Negotiations
by Owl-songs
Summary: Suppose Claire had tried to negotiate with Sylar during their fateful encounter. Would they have parted more amicably? A slightly silly drabble. Spoilers for Season 3, episode 1.


Negotiations, a Heroes fanfiction

He had found her. Claire felt no real surprise at that fact; it had seemed almost inevitable since the day he had first marked her as his target. There was fleeting disappointment that it had to be so soon—but the fear that possessed her, the vehemence with which she fled when she realized what his finding of her meant, that this was to be the end, was an unexpected revelation even to her.

After a few desperately panicked minutes of cat-and-mouse around the sofa (a diversion effectively ended when he'd telekinetically tossed it across the room), Claire had fallen back on negotiation. It was improbable that he would deign to give her any consideration at all, but worth a try nevertheless.

"Can we, uh…" Claire gasped out, heart pounding and adrenaline pumping through her veins. "Do you think we could talk about this?"

Sylar paused. Claire's eyes strained to see his expression in the darkened room, but he was silhouetted against the window and what little light remained was not enough to see by. "Claire," he drawled leisurely. "I've been after your ability for two years. Do you really think you can just talk me out of it?"

"Well—well, no, but—well, if I'm going to die anyway, what's a few more minutes to you?" she demanded breathlessly.

He looked at her with genuine surprise. "Die? I'm not going to kill you."

"What?"

"Your power is cellular regeneration. I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to."

"Then—then what's all the fuss about?" Claire demanded, gesticulating wildly with growing exasperation and hysteria. "What was the point of these past two years? The stalking, the—the creepiness?"

"I'm a creepy guy," he shrugged, openly feigning nonchalance while somehow maintaining his air of threatening menace.

"Well, you could have just asked!"

"Oh, sure—'Hello, Claire. My name is Sylar. I'm a serial killer, and I was wondering if maybe you'd let me poke around in your brain some afternoon.'" He said, casually ignoring the ashen tinge her face took on at the mention of his hands in her brain. "Yeah, that would've gone over _really_ well."

"I could have done without terror of knowing it was only a matter of time before I ended up like Jackie!" She retorted.

"You _will_ end up like Jackie." He spoke to her slowly, as if explaining something simple to a very small child long after his patience had worn thin. "The only difference will be that you will live to talk about it. I can't imagine why you'd want to, but it's an option."

Claire snorted, a strange sound that was amusement warring with horror. This entire situation was completely surreal. "Oh, _fantastic_. I suppose we should just get on with it then!" she exclaimed, sarcasm permeating her voice.

"As you say," he grinned. He raised his left arm level to her forehead, and a familiar thrill of terror raced through Claire.

"But—do you mind if we did this in the kitchen? It's easier to clean up in there." She felt a hollow consolation in the fact that her voice was steady in spite of her trembling nerves, and ignored the conceited malice with which he indicated her to lead on.

"Sure thing, cheerleader."

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. _Really_ not mine.

**Author's Note:** So here it is, my first (published) Heroes fanfic! I've no real idea where this came from, but it's been hanging around in the depths of my computer for a while now, so I figured I might as well upload it. The situation seemed rather comical to me--he'd been pursuing her for so long, but they'd never actually stopped to discuss what was going to happen. If only, if only... Imagine what it would have been like if he'd come after her first, and they'd decided to team up! He'd kill the specials, she'd revive them, and then they'd call the Haitian just to round things off. I think someone may have actually written something similar to that, but I can't recall the author nor the name of the fic... ah, well.

Please, tell me what you think!

Owl-songs


End file.
